Camille VIGIER FRETEY, sophomore student and International Ambassador of the CEERRF, participated in the organization and the welcoming of Saori Morino, Doctor of Physiotherapy and Associate Professor at the Department of Rehabilitation of the Osaka Metropolitan University. Camille shares her testimonial of Ms Morino’s intervention to freshmen.
There are more than 180,000 physiotherapists in Japan and more than 270 physiotherapy schools. The majority of Japanese physiotherapists work in hospitals or long-term care facilities, but more and more of them are moving into the community to treat people at home, especially the elderly. In the Japanese health care system, patients first go to doctors who then refer them to physiotherapy services. However, direct access is allowed for prevention purposes.
Ms Morino then introduced Osaka Metropolitan University, which was formed in April 2022 from the merger of Osaka City University and Osaka Prefectural University. The university has about 16,000 students, making it the third largest university in Japan.
We then had a lecture on women’s health. Ms Morino presented her research on premenstrual syndrome, but especially on the pain that pregnant women can experience. The course focused on lower back and pelvic pain which can be explained by abdominal weakness, change in centre of gravity, anterior pelvic tilt, compression of intervertebral discs, weakening of pelvic ligaments and vascular and hormonal changes.
The course also discussed methods of estimating abdominal muscle co-contraction using devices such as the electro-myogram (EMG), but also using the IMU (an electronic device that measures and reports the specific forces it receives) and algorithms. According to Ms Morino’s research, abdominal muscle torques are weaker in pregnant women than in women.
Finally, students learned diagnostic testing techniques for this pain such as the posterior pelvic pain provocation test, Faber test, sacroiliac ligament test and the straight leg raise test.
Overall, the Physiotherapy and Women’s Health course was an excellent opportunity to learn about women’s specific health problems and diagnostic approaches to physiotherapy.